Survival of the Sickest
by PAEC
Summary: Naru is a Successful Junior at Tokyo U. One day, she's out for an Early morning walk, and nearly gets ran down by a Biker....named Keitaro Urashima?


It was a fine Spring Morning at the Hinata Apartments. The temperature was just right, the Cherry Blossoms were blooming nicely outside, overall, it just seemed like the perfect morning. At least, it seemed that way to Naru Narusegawa

Naru was 20 Years Old, and a 3rd Year Student at Tokyo University, the most prestigeous University in all of Japan. Naru had studied for a good deal of her life to get into this school, and finally, her dream had come true, three years ago, at the ripe age of 17.

"I'm gonna go out and take a walk, before the streets fill up." Naru said to Haruka Urashima, who was the Caretaker for the Hinata Apartments. She happened to be sweeping up the Lobby as Naru was getting her Lime-Green coat on.

"Think you'll be back by breakfast time? You know how Shinobu gets when people ain't here to eat." Haruka replied, not even looking up from her sweeping.

"I shouldn't be out too long." Naru said cheerfully. She was in an incredibly good mood, for some reason. Maybe it was that she hadn't gotten an oppurtunity to relax like this for a while. "I'm just going out for a little stroll. Maybe around the highway by the beach and back."

"Have fun then." Haruka remarked. She took a drag of her cigarette and headed upstairs, obviously to clean some more.

"Thanks." Naru said loud enough for Haruka to hear her, but barely. It was pretty early, and she didn't want to wake anybody up.

As she put her coat on and walked out the door, Naru took in a deep breath, and inhaled some of the clean Spring Morning air. It felt great, and she felt completely refreshed already. With that she started out on her walk. It was early dawn, so with the exception of old shopkeepers sweeping outside of their shops, the streets were quiet. No cars on the road, no people, no nothing. Naru felt like she had the world all to herself at this point.

About fifteen minutes later, she reached the highway curb beside the beach. Naru remembered this beach well. It was the beach where her and all her friends from the apartments went to celebrate after they found out that she had been accepted to Tokyo U. It was also on that same day that Grandma Hina, who was the owner of the Hinata Apartments, and currently away on vacation, nearly drowend when she fell asleep too close to the water. The tide had come and nearly swept her away. Naru chuckled to herself as she recalled this. There were good memories at this beach, and she intended to hold her Graduation Party here with that same group of friends.

Naru's trip down memory lane was inturrupted by a distant sound. It wasn't much, but it was enough to make Naru tilt her head toward the road out of curiosity. As the sound drew closer, she could make it out better. It was the sound of a Motor of some sort. Naru automatically assumed that it was just a Car coming, and started to turn back around. Until something caught the corner of her eye. When she snapped her head back to stare at what she had been seconds earlier, a black, lowriding motorcycle was no more than 15 Feet away from her, going at full speed.Almost paralyzed in shock, something triggered in Narus' Mind, and as if by reflex, Naru jumped out of the way, and the Motorcycle crashed into the lamp post that she had been leaning on moments earlier.Naru rubbed her head and her butt as she stood up, anxious to go off on the reckless driver who had nearly run her down.

"What the hell was that?" Naru yelled in a pissed off voice. "You almost ran me over, you asshole! Watch where your going!" Naru was Irate at this point, not so much at the fact that she had nearly become Roadkill, but because this had seemed to have ruined her perfect day, or so it seemed.

The man on the bike stood up, with a hand over his forehead. He glanced at Naru and then turned around to check on his bike, before Naru got a chance to get a good look at his face. He saw his Bike. It was totalled. The crash into the Lamp Post had bent the metal, and it had skidded on the road. The bike was ruined. When the man saw this, he started to talk to himself, like Naru wasn't even there."No! My Bike! My custom Half half a million Yen Bike! It's RUINED!" He got on his knees and began to examine the bike.

All the while, Naru couldn't believe what she was hearing. This man nearly ran her down, and he doesn't so much as look at her. She walked over to him and spun him around, grabbing him by the collar of the Leather Jacket that he was wearing."I Don't know if you noticed it or not," Naru yelled at the top of her voice, trying to get through to the man, who now had no choice but to look her in the eyes. He was bleeding from the forehead, and blood trickled down his face as he stared blankly at Naru. "But you nearly RAN ME DOWN with that Bike! But you would rather check about the well being of THAT then that of the pedestrian that you nearly killed?"

The man, who had short brown hair and was wearing sunglasses, did not respond. When Naru released her grip, he reached his hand up and removed the glasses, revealling his chocolate brown eyes. Naru couldn't help but blush when she saw those eyes. He had a determined look on his face as he finally spoke to her. Naru expected an apology."That depends, LADY. Did you cost me Half a Million Yen? Are you custom made for me to ride? Are you even WORTH either of those two privleges? The answers to all of those questions are 'No', 'No', and 'No'. It's your fault for standing where you were."

Naru couldn't believe how full of himself this guy was. He had the gall to say this kind of thing to a young woman who he had nearly killed because he was going 30 over the Speed Limit? She blushed brightly as she yelled at him again. "You could have killed-"

"But I didn't, did I?" The man cut her off. "Your pretty little ass is still standing there, in the middle of the road now, I might add, and you are still alive. So why are you bitching about it? You've got something else you ought to be bitchin' about, and that would be the Half a Million Yen that you Owe me for this bike, Because YOU were standing in the way!"

"I owe YOU? I'm not paying you a CENT! It's your own fault that you were driving so goddamnd recklessly! Now good day to you, SIR!" Naru turned around and walked away, headed back to the Hinata Apartments. It was almost time for breakfast, but that wasn't why she chose to head back. She just wanted to get away from this man.

"You ain't gettin' off that easy, bitch!" The man shouted behind her, as he started to walk after her, his head now almost completely covered in bright red blood from the lasceration that he had suffered. "YOU Caused that Bike to be damaged, and you owe me for a new one, you got that!" He yelled as his paced changed from a walk to a jog. Naru turned her head around and saw him heading for her. She didn't want anything to happen to her, and she knew what could happen, especially since the streets were not particularly full right now. She immediatly broke into a hard run.

"Leave me ALONE!" She shouted as she tried to get as far away as possible.

"YOU COME BACK HERE!" The man ran after her.

Naru ran all the way back to the Hinata Apartments, but she couldn't quite lose the man. She ran inside as fast as she could, where Motoko, Shinobu, and Haruka were talking, while the rest had already started eating. Naru shut the door behind her as fast as she could.

"What's wrong, Naru? You're sweating and out of breath." Motoko said with concern.

"There's...this guy..." That was all Naru got out, before there was pounding on the other side of the sliding door, and the mans voice could be heard on the other side.

"I'M NOT LEAVING UNTIL YOU PAY ME BACK COMPLETELY FOR THAT BIKE!" He yelled as he pounded on the sliding door. On the other side, Haruka's eyes widened.

"Wait a minute, is that..." Haruka said with curiosity in her voice. Naru, Shinobu, and Motoko looked at her confused. Haruka promptly slid the sliding door open, and when she saw the man, her expression went back to normal. She took a drag from her cigarette, before taking it out of her mouth and tossing it to the ground, stomping it out as she looked at the man, who was looking back at her. It seemed like they knew each other. "So..." Haruka broke the Ice by speaking up. "What brings you all the way out here, Keitaro? Oh, and, you might want to wipe all that blood off your face."

Naru was completely shocked. "Haru...ka.." she spoke with disbelief in her voice. "Do you...uhmm...know this man?"

"I do," Haruka replied calmly. "He's my nephew. Keitaro Urashima."

Naru was completely flustered, and her face showed that quite well. She barely noticed when Keitaro spoke up."Yeah, that's me." Keitaro's voice was full of fatigue and a bit of anger. "Long time, no see, Auntie."

As soon as he said the word 'Auntie' Harkua decked him in the stomach. Keitaro doubled back in pain. "You KNOW not to call me that!"

"Yeah, Yeah." Keitaro coughed before standing back upright."

Haruka sighed. "Whatever. Now, get in here, clean yourself up, and tell me what the hell is going on." She then turned her attention to Naru. "And I'd appriciate if you'd do the same." She pulled another cigarette out of her pocket and lit it up as she let Keitaro in and slid the door shut.

It was noon by the time both Naru and Keitaro were done telling their sides of the story, and on occassion Naru had to be held back from going at Keitaro as he told his side. Haruka, along with the rest of the members of the Hinata Apartments were listening to the stories. Finally, Haruka reached a Verdict. "Well, it's quite obvious we can't pay you back for your bike, but in retrospect, it WAS your fault."  
"It was NOT my fault!" Keitaro inturupted Haruka. Big mistake. She nailed him across the side of the head.  
"As I was SAYING," Haruka continued, obviously not too happy with the way her stuck up nephew was behaving. "It WAS your fault for the way you were driving, so if you want your Bike paid back, you're gonna have to find a way to do that yourself. However, I know that this is a bad situation for you right now, and I can't overlook the fact that you are my little nephew, reguardless of weather or not I really like you or not. So, as compensation, you may stay here until your transportation problems are fixed."  
The girls were compltley awe-stricken. They couldn't believe what they were hearing. However, each of them knew not to argue with Haruka in the mood she seemed to be in right now, so there was nothing anyone could do.  
What was worse, Naru later learned that Keitaro's room would be directly below her's, and she had the hole in her floor which connected the rooms. It was covered with a poster, so she could only hope that he never discovered it. Naru was now completely happy for the fact that she had school on Week Days, she wanted to spend as little time around this Biker Punk that Haruka called family as possible.  
Either way, she knew it would be months before he could get himself a new ride, if not longer. At that very moment, Naru Narusegawa knew, that these next few months were going to be the worst of her life. Nothing could prepare her for what she was going to have to endure with this man living at the apartments.

Author's note: Okay, so I think this is a good start. Yes, there will be a Chapter Two, so don't worry about it. I just felt it was getting long so I'd need to divide into chapters. Either way, this seemed like a good cut off point. Read and Review, please, and I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it. :D


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